Knitting-machine



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEicE.

JAMES Y. LESLIE, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

KNITTING-MACI-IINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 11,751, dated October 3, 1854.

To all wh-0m may concern Be it known that I, JAMES Y. LESLIE, ofCincinnati, Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inKnitting- Looms, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, makingpart of this specification, in which- Figure l, is a front elevation o-fa part of the machine; Fig. 2, a side elevation with part of the sideframe removed to exhibit part of the mechanism; Figs. 3 and 4, verticalsections taken at the lines A, a, and B, b, of Fig. l; Figs. 5 and 6,separate views of the thread carrier and carriage; and Fig. 7, separateview of a different form of tooth.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

My invention relates to improvements in knitting looms for theproduction of hose and other knitted fabrics by power.

In my said knitting loom the loops are formed on a range of teeth havinghooks on their forward ends on which the last formed range of loopshang. And these hooks have grooves made in their upper surfaces and backof the hooks to receive a series of pins, termed lifting pins; the rangeof loops are pushed back on these pins, and the thread carried acrossthe range of teeth, and gripped between the teeth by a series of threadlayers which are forced down in succession onto the thread to carry itdown between the teeth, and forward under the hooks at the end of theteeth. The lseries of lifting pins are then lifted up and moved forwardto .lift the old range of loops, and carry them forward to lock thestitchesthat is, to ho-ld the crimps of the thread in the hooks of theteeth. The thread layers are then thrown back out of the way, and theold range of loops are discharged from the lift ing pins by the edge ofa bar or discharger which is moved forward for that` purpose, so thatthis previously formed range of loops drop over the hooks of the teeth`and hang onto the new range of loops thus formed by the crimps of thethread. Afterl the lifting pins have been carried back and let down intothe grooves of the teeth, the range of loops is forced back over thesepins by the straight edge of what is termed a presser preparatory toforming a new range of loops. The thread or threads are carried fromside to side over the teeth, and

just back of the hooks, by means of what I term the thread carrier, orcarriers, attached to one or more reciprocating carriages governed bystops to vary and determine ,the

range of motion of the thread carrier or carriers, to correspond withthe intended width of the fabric to be knitted. If more than one threadcarrier be employed, several widths of fabric can `be knitted side byside, at one and the same time, each with selvedges, or one width `canbe knitted in strips of different colors, and by shifting the threadsother figures may be produced.

In the accompanying drawings the mechanism is represented as mounted ina suitable frame which may be varied to suit the judgment of theconstructor. The loops are formed on a range of teeth a, which take theplace of the ordinary needles in knitting looms. These needles projecthorizontally from a permanent part of the frame to which they are to beso attached as to admit of being removed and replaced as needles are inthe common knitting loom. These its back end, a wrist pin g, that runson a -cam z, on the end of the main barrel i. The

form of this cam is represented in the section Fig. 3, from which itwill be seen that as the cam moves under the wrist pin from l to 2, thelifting points are drawn back in the position represented in Fig. 4, sothat their points lie in the grooves of the teeth, and just. under theupper surface ofthe teeth, so that in that position the rangeof loopsy', can be pushed 'back over the points of the lifters which is done bymeans `of what I denominate the presser' 7c. This presser is a flatmetal bar with its inner edge straight and placed just below the rangeofteeth. It is attached by the ends to two arms Z, Z, that rock onjournals at their lower ends, and provided with arms m that are actedupon by cams a, n, on the shaft of the main barrel. Springs o, areemployed to keep the presser in its forward position, and

as the arms m, are acted upon by t-he passage of either of the cams n,the presser is forced against the range of loops, and pushes them backover and ,onto the points of the lifters. The presser then retiresleaving the loops on the points to await the other operations.

The thread p, from a bobbin suitably mounted passes through a guide g,attached to the frame, and thence through what I denominate the threadcarrier r, attached to and moved by a carriage s, fitted to slide fromend to end in a groove or between ways on the front face of the rockingbar d, to which the lifting pins are secured, so that this bar as itvibrates to operate the lifters also moves the thread carrier orcarriers back and forth to be back of the hooks when the thread is to becarried across, and to be out of the way when the discharger is movedforward. The carrier is a metallic stem eX- tending down nearly incontact with the upper surface of the range of teeth, and with an eye atits lower end through which the thread passes.

The carriage s, of the carrier is operated by a cord t, which passesthrough a groove in the back face of the said carriage, and under aspring u, attached to the said carriage, which spring makes sufiicientfriction on the cord to carry the carriage and carrier except when thecarriage is arrested by any impediment and then the cord may continue tomove without the carriage. This cord passes either way around a Vpulleyu, at each end and thence around and attached to two wheels o, o,mounted, one at each end on the shaft of the barrel, but free to turnthereon. They are alternately clutched and unclutched in the followingmanner On the shaft, and by the side of each wheel, there is a radialarm fw, which carries a spring bolt As the shaft turns, one

of the spring bolts on one side strikes against a pin or stop y, on theface of one of the wheels, and thus locks or clutches it so that it willbe turned in one direction with the shaft, and hence draw the carriagewith its carrier across the machine from one'side to the other layingthe thread on the teeth,

and as the other end of the cord is attached to the other wheel, whichis then unclutched it will turn freely in the opposite direction. Sosoon as the carrier reaches the end of its motion, a shoulder or lip a',of the spring bolt comes in contact with a fixed cam orv inclined planeo', on the frame, by which' it is drawn in to liberate the wheel, sothat the cord will then remain at rest for the required space of time,at the end of which the same operation takes place on the other side toclutch the other wheel, to reverse the movements and draw the carrieracross the machine in the opposite direction; the two arms w, lw, withtheir spring bolts being on opposite sides of the aXis. In this way thecarrier is moved across from side to side of the machine, andalternately brought to a state of rest to await the other parts of theoperation. The range of motion of the thread carrier is greater than thespace occupied by the range of teeth so that at each motion it iscarried'just beyond the last tooth. On each side of the range of teeththere is a tooth c', without a hook and as the carrier starts it lapsthe thread around one of these teeth, and then continues to carry thethread along over the surface of the range 'i of teeth and just back ofthel hooks; and', as it passesv along, the thread is crimped between theteeth to take up the quantity of thread required to form a new range ofloops, as will be presently described.

For the purpose of changing the width of the fabric in the process ofknitting it is necessary to vary the range of motion of the threadcarrier, for, it will be seen, so long as the thread is laid on theteeth the thread layers will crimp it bet-Ween the teeth, and, if therebe a range of loops on the teeth at the time, the knitting will beproduced, but unless the thread be carried-over the teeth, the otheroperations of the machine will not knit, and therefore the range ofmotion of the thread carrier is an important element in determining thewidth of the fabric. yI employ two movable or adjustable stops which maybe made of any suitable construction, say two pins a2, made of wire, and

vremain determining the extent of the range of motion of the threadcarrier. The cord t,

continues its motion slipping under the friction of the spring u',before described. On the return motion of the cordit moves the carriageand carrier in the opposite direction until it strikes the other stoppin, shown in the vertical sections. In this way, by shifting theposition of either or both stop pins, the width of the knittingoperation may be determined and varied at pleasure; but, it should beobserved that in widening and narrowing, the saine shifting of stitchesor loops must be made as inthe hand knitting loom. Instead of one threadcarrier, several may be simultaneously used all of them attached to thesame carriage, as represented in the separate Fig. 6, or each may be ona separate carriage, and each carrying its appropriate thread which maybe of any desired color.

In thisway stripedor plaid fabrics may be knitted. Or a series of narrowand independent lfabrics may be knitted at the same time on the samerange of teeth. As, for

instance, in knitting a series of narrow strips of goods, not united,the distance between the thread carriers must be greater than theirrange of motion that the thread of one may not extend over and becomeknitted in with the thread of the next carrier. But to produce stripedgoods the range of motion must be greater than the distance between thecarriers, that the thread of one may be interlocked with the thread ofthe next. All that is necessary to produce plaids is to shift thedifferent colored threads in the carrier. As, for instance, afterknitting a given length with a white thread in the first carrier, and ared thread in the second carrier, and so on throughout the series, thethreads are to be shifted, that is, the white thread transferred to thecarriers that had the red ones, and @270e versa. The next length willhave the colors alternated, thus producing the plaid. In this way byshifting the threads and changing the number and range of motion of thethread carriers, a great variety` of figures can be produced. Instead ofthe pin stops, slides may be used, and in fact any kind of stop whichwill admit of shifting and adjusting the range of motion of the carrieror carriers.

lt has already been stated that at each end of the range of teeth thereis an extra tooth (r, to insure the making of a good selvage, for as thethread is laid around this extra tooth, when the thread layers crimp itfor the second range of loops the last loop of the previous range mightbe drawn out. This is prevented by the ext-ra tooth c. In knittingvariable widths these extra teeth have no effect in insuring a goodselvage, except when the greatest width is knitted. To insure a goodselvage for all widths, instead of using the two extra teeth c, all theteeth may be notched on their upper surface as at Fig. 7, so that theshoulder of the notch will hold back the old range of loops whilstthethread is being crimped. The lifting points in discharging the loopswill lift them over the shoulder of the notches without difliculty. Inthis way a good selvage .can be obtained for all widths. v

It will be observed that the thread is delivered by the carrier justover the top surface of the teeth and just back of the hooks of theteeth, and it will also be observed, that the carrier is made no widerthan is necessary to let the thread pass through its eye freely, becauseduring the operation of crimping the thread the carrier lies between twothread layers, as will more clearly appear in describing the nextoperation. As the thread is carried across by the carrier it is crimpedby what are termed thread layers. d', one for every space between theteeth. `Each thread layer is a lever of the form represented in thesection, and all of them turnin on the same fulcrum rod e. The forwarend is forked, as shown at f', andthe rear arm of the lever is ofsufiicient weight to carry itback to the position represented in thedrawing, with the forward end forked above the teeth, so that when therear arm is elevated, the forked end moves forward and downward,catching the thread and crimping it between the teeth, and,at the sametime, carrying it forward under the hooks of the teeth. The series ofthread layers are operated, to perform this operation on the thread, bymeans of a series of tappets L, one for each thread layer; These tappetsare arranged in the line of a helix on the periphery of the main barrel,so as to act in succession that the thread layers may, in succession actupon the thread and crimp it as the carrier moves along in advance. Andthese ,tappets are, on their outer surface, concentric, each one insuccession longer, and al1 ending in a line parallel or nearly so withthe shaft, so that all the thread layers are held down until the wholerange of crimps is completed. So soon as this is completed, the range oflifting points is carried forward, and slightly upward by the rockingmotion of the bar to which they are attached, so as to carry thepreviously formed `range of loops forward of, and above the hookson theend of the teeth. At this movement, the tappets pass by, liberating allthe thread layers, which leave the new range of loops hanging on theends of the teeth, and the old range of loops behind them, and pressingthem forward, so that they cannot become unhooked by reason of thecockling of the thread. The moment the thread layers are liberated theold loops are thrown olf from the points of the lifters, and drop overthe ends of the teeth and hang onto the new range of loops suspendedfrom the teeth. The throwing of the old range of loops from the pointsof the lifters is effected by a bar called the discharger e", which is ametal plate very similar to the presser, and placed just over the top ofthe range of teeth, and connected at. the ends to two arms y", thatextend up from a rock-shaft 7c. The tension of a'spring Z', keeps theclearer in its back position, and when the loops are to be dischargedcams or rollers m', on the ends of the barrel strike the arms j and pushforward the discharger which moves forward between the range of teethand the range of lifting points in their elevated' positions, and thuspush the range of loops ofi' the points. The mechanism is then in acondition to form another range of loops, by the return motion of thethread carrier, and for this purpose, the helical line of the secondrange of tappets is the reverse of the first.

Afterthe tappets have passed from the rear arms of the thread layers,they fall back by the preponderance of the weight back of the aXis ofvibration, but to ensure- I have thus particularly described andkrepresented the mo-de of construction which I have tried with success,and which I deem the best, but I do not wish to be understood aslimiting myself to this special construction and arrangement, as it willbe obvious that the mode of operation, which distinguishes my invention,and every branch of it, from all other things before known, may beapplied under various modes of construction by the substitution ofequivalents.

lVhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentisl. The combination o-f the lifting pins with the teeth provided withgrooves for receiving the lifting pins, that the range of loops may bepushed over the pins, and

with hooks Vto hold the crimped thread whilst the range of `loops arelifted 'up and discharged over the said hooks the said lifting pins andteeth being constructed and bina'tion-with` the ranger of teeth andlift- Y ing pins,l substantially as specified, and for the purposefofforcingthe range of loops overthe'said lifting pins, after they havebeen let down into the grooves of the teeth, as specified. 1

r3. And Iy also claim in combination with thehooked vteeth and thelifting pins, substantially as described, the dischargingsbar,substantially asv described, forv discharging the range of loops fromthe lifting pins after they have been lifted up over the hooks on theteeth, as specified. A f

4. And I also claim in combination with the hookedV teeth, theemployment of the thread layers having a motion downwards and forwards,substantially as described, for the purpose of crimping the threadbetween the teeth, and forcing itV under the hooks by one and the samemotion as specified.

5. And I also claim the employment of movable and adjustable stops incombination with the thread carrier or carriers, substantially asspecified, for the purpose of determining the width of fabric to beknitted and narrowing and widening the same as specified.

JAMEs Y. LESLIE..

Witnesses:

WM. I-I. BISHOP, CHAS. W. BAMBURGH.

